The 2025 Tour de Pologne concluded with a 12.5-kilometre time trial on Sunday. Obviously motivated by this final stage, Stefan Küng placed sixth, twenty seconds behind the day’s and overall winner, Brandon McNulty. The Swiss rider, like some of his teammates, also took advantage of the day to fine-tune a few things ahead of the Vuelta a España. Rudy Molard also secured his top-15 in the overall standings.
The 112 riders still in contention on the Tour de Pologne were expected near Krakow this Sunday, in Wieliczka to be precise, to complete the 2025 edition. To do so, they had to cover a 12.5-kilometer time trial, which wasn’t particularly technical. “It was a very nice course with a first part of two kilometres uphill,” Jussi Veikkanen said. “The second part was hilly with a lot of slight downhill roads, so it was very fast. The guys had done a good recon and they were all very focused. As I said, the goal was to give 100% because there will be time trials on the Vuelta, and it was a perfect opportunity to work on it in race mode. On the other hand, we decided to play it safe with Enzo this morning. He was a bit unwell when he woke up, probably because of the same virus that affected Rémi yesterday.” Five riders from the Groupama-FDJ cycling team were still in the running on Sunday, and Clément Davy opened the day shortly before 3 p.m. The Frenchman set a decent time of 15 minutes and 21 seconds, while Stefan Küng finished just under half an hour later. On the line, the Swiss rider set a mark of 14’51, which put him in provisional third place before the arrival of the GC favourites. Thibaud Gruel put in a solid performance in 15’14, then Rudy Molard, the last rider to start for Groupama-FDJ, crossed the line in 15’59.
“The guys worked well,” Jussi Veikkanen
The penultimate rider to set off, Brandon McNulty smashed the race against the clock with a time of 14:31, while Stefan Küng got sixth place, 20 seconds behind the American. “Actually, Stefan hadn’t done a time trial in competition since the Tour de Romandie,” said Jussi. “There was one at the Tour de Suisse, but it was uphill and therefore completely different. His lack of racing practice showed a bit. Even if you work hard in training, it’s never the same, and it showed in the details. It would probably have been possible to gain a few seconds. He was there, but he can definitely do better in the next time trials. In terms of shape, he’s on track, and that’s the most important thing.” In the general classification, Rudy Molard was able to maintain his place in the top-15 (15th) at the end of this last day and Groupama-FDJ also completed the week with four top-10, without having a sprinter in their ranks. “We were there almost every day, we can be satisfied with that, even if Rudy’s final result doesn’t reflect everyone’s commitment,” Jussi concluded. “My conclusion is that the guys worked very well in July because everyone was up to the task. Thibaud, in particular, showed that he can also play at WorldTour level against the best in the world, and that’s what we’ll remember.”
